Google’s objection to IE7

Interesting twist in the search wars: Google has talked with antitrust officials about Microsoft setting the new Internet Explorer 7 search box to default to MSN Search, The New York Times reports. (The story also ran on the front page of today’s P-I.) Microsoft counters that the default settings are easy to change. Google commissioned a study that says they aren’t.

It isn’t a formal complaint, but the New York Times reports that Google has spoken with antitrust officials in both the United States and Europe.

Update: Internet Explorer GM Dean Hachamovitch, posting on the IE Blog in advance of the NYT story: “The typical default when users install IE7 on their Windows XP machines will most likely be their usual search engine. Despite claims from some people around the web, MSN is not ‘The Default.’ The search box in IE7 uses IE6’s AutoSearch setting because we think this setting is the best indication IE has of the user’s preference.” (Via Robert Scoble.)

The New York Times story acknowledges the transfer of that setting but notes that Google asserts that AutoSearch is not widely used.

Also see this post by Ed Bott, who shows the process of switching the default search service in IE 7 and Firefox.